Daily Photo #16

Don McCullin : Cyprus, 1964: A grieving woman and her family

Donald "Don" McCullin, CBE Hon FRPS (9 October 1935) is a British photojournalist, particularly recognized for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialized in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and the impoverished.

[As]One of Britain’s most celebrated and respected photographers [he] has lamented the digital domination of his field, calling it “a totally lying experience” that cannot be trusted.
Don McCullin, one of the world’s finest photographers of war and disaster, said the digital revolution meant viewers could no longer trust the truthfulness of images they see. He said photography had been “hijacked” because “the digital cameras are extraordinary. I have a dark room and I still process film but digital photography can be a totally lying kind of experience, you can move anything you want … the whole thing can’t be trusted really.” ...

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Students do a daily "Bell Work" activity analyzing a significant or historical photo. They must make written comments about the composition, contrast, focus, balance, framing and statements each photo is making. This is our daily warm up exercise.

Daily Photo #15

John Paul Filo - 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Photography

John Filo's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio, a 14-year-old runaway kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller minutes after he was fatally shot by the Ohio National Guard

The Kent State shootings (also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre)[3][4][5] occurred at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, in the United States and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. There were 28 soldiers who admitted to firing on top of the hill, 25 of these soldiers fired 55 rounds into the air and into the ground, two of the soldiers fired .45cal pistol shots, three into the crowd, and three into the air, one soldier fired birdshot into the air (James Russell was also hit with a shotgun's birdshot, some believe that some of the shot may have ricocheted off a tree and hit him).[6] The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.[7][8]
Some of the students who were shot had been protesting the Cambodian Campaign, which President Richard Nixon announced during a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.[9][10]
There was a significant national response to the shootings: Hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of 4 million students,[11] and the event further affected public opinion, at an already socially contentious time, over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.[12]

Students do a daily "Bell Work" activity analyzing a significant or historical photo. They must make written comments about the composition, contrast, focus, balance, framing and statements each photo is making. This is our daily warm up exercise.

Landscape : "My Rochester"

Skyline Photograph - Rochester Ny Skyline In Black And White by Tim Buisman

Start this project first by creating a new blog post with the following:

Examples of landscapes and cityscapes that you think might work well as inspirations for your Landscape : “My Rochester” photo essay. 

You should plan to take new photos for all of your photo essays, but for now, it is ok to post 2-5 photos you previously took or images captured from the internet that you may potentially use as substitues in this first post.

Include in your post: a few sentences describing potential subject matter you may want to photograph for this project, as well as how you plan to photograph this subject matter. Also, include a few sentences analyzing your current strengths and weakness regarding photography, and how you will use these to your advantage in your photo essay. This is just an in-progress post the actual Lanscape : "My Rochester"  project must be a separate post.

Project Requirements:

1). 10-12 quality, edited (if necessary) photographs of landscapes and/or cityscapes united by the theme “My Rochester”

2). Photos are to be black & white using the settings and filters in your cell phone or camera.

3). Photos should fit all criteria of good photography discussed up this point. (ie. composition, defined vantage & focal points; proper lighting & contrast; interesting angles; clear subjects in focus; a sense of narrative that tells a story; backgrounds that adds to, rather than detract from, the subject of the photo)

4). 250 word artist statement in the same blog post as the final 10-12 edited photos

Here are some examples of powerful photo essays:

Halloween in Brooklyn

A Tale of Two Flint, Michigans: The Most Violent City in America

A Day in the Life of a Sengalese School Girl

A Day in the Life of a Fashion Week Model

Daily Photo #14

Toby Harriman 

Toby Harriman is an aerial, fine art, travel and landscape photographer. He also works as a timelapser and content creator. Toby Harriman tries through his photographs to discover more about the surrounding world and document his adventures. His photos are really stunning even those black and white ones are also amazing and this is the reason behind making Toby Harriman’s work spread across the internet among all of those who like this kind of photographs especially his cityscape photographs.

Toby Harriman

Students do a daily "Bell Work" activity analyzing a significant or historical photo. They must make written comments about the composition, contrast, focus, balance, framing and statements each photo is making. This is our daily warm up exercise. This particular photo is meant to be inspiration for the, "My Rochester" photo essay project which includes cityscapes as one related assignment.

"My Rochester" Fall/Winter Photo Essay & Portfolio

For all your major Fall/Winter photography assignments, you will be creating a series of  photographic essay projects representing Rochester through your eyes. Over the course of several assignments you will photograph landscape photos, street photos, portrait photos and even journalistic photos to culminate in the creation of a Portfolio and Essay of your photographic work. You should photograph your neighborhood, family, sports team, favorite after school hangout, friends, neighbors, events etc., all with the purpose of developing your own creative eye for photography, light and composition. Take as many photos as you can! – the more options you have to choose from, the better! At the end of each project, you will post 10-12 photographs that you feel best show your vision of Rochester. Oh, and...along with that...a 250 word artist statement to your blog. Yay! :)

Today we will:

Introduce the new photojournalism project:
"My Rochester"

You will: Create a new Project Proposal blog post with the following:

A few sentences describing potential ideas and subject matter that you may want to photograph for landscape photos, street photos, portrait photos and even journalistic photos of Rochester for the My Rochester Photo Essay Series, as well as how and what you plan to photograph for these projects. You may post a few google photos of Rochester for your project proposal posts if needed.


I will:

Post a few sentences analyzing my current strengths and weakness regarding photography, and how I will use these to my advantage in my photo essay.

My Rochester: Landscapes

Project Requirements:

• 10-12 quality, edited (if necessary) Landscape photographs united by the theme “My Rochester”
• Photos must be in black & white
• Photos must fit all criteria of a good photograph discussed up this point (proper lighting; interesting angle; clear subject that is in focus; tells a story; background adds to, rather than detract from, the subject of the image)
• Photos should clearly label the vantage point used. (ie. worms eye, birds eye ect)
• 250 word artist statement in the same blog post as the final 10-12 edited photos

Any photos you took for previous assignments this year that you think may work well as part of your “My Rochester” photo essays. (You should plan to take new photos for the majority of your photo essay, but for now, it is ok to post 2-4 ones you may potentially use.)

Here are some examples of powerful photo essays:

• Halloween in Brooklyn
• A Tale of Two Flint, Michigans: The Most Violent City in America
• A Day in the Life of a Sengalese School Girl
• A Day in the Life of a Fashion Week Model

The Speech that Inspired the Project

Shortly after taking office in 2014, Mayor Lovely Warren referred to Rochester as “a tale of two cities.” Here is a brief excerpt from that speech (you can read the speech in its entirety here):

“In his State of the State address just a few short weeks ago, Governor Cuomo candidly and accurately described Upstate New York as being in a “cycle of decline” — and the evidence of this is clear to see in Rochester.  The Rochester of today is far different from the Rochester of just a generation ago. Rochester is a tale of two cities.  One city is vibrant, hopeful, wealthy, and highly livable. The other suffers from escalating poverty, dysfunction, unemployment that is higher today than it was during the Great Depression — and a deficient educational system.  This divide has both immediate human consequences and short and long-term economic consequences.

The Mayor’s challenge — our community’s shared challenge — is to bridge these divides so that all people feel there is hope for them and their children; and we all feel that we have an equal stake in the future.  A recent report by the Rochester Area Community Foundation outlined the harsh reality we face; and the findings are a call to action that cannot go unanswered.

Rochester is the:

• Fifth poorest city in the country among the top 75 largest metropolitan areas;
• Second poorest among comparably sized cities in those metro areas;
• Ranked third for highest concentration of extremely poor neighborhoods among cities in the top 100 metro areas;
• Poorest urban school district in the State.”

Daily Photo #13

Josef Koudelka

Photographer, Josef Koudelka's early work significantly shaped his later photography, and its emphasis on social and cultural rituals as well as death. He soon moved on to a more personal, in depth photographic study of the Gypsies of Slovakia, and later Romania. This work was exhibited in Prague in 1967. Throughout his career, Koudelka has been praised for his ability to capture the presence of the human spirit amidst dark landscapes. Desolation, waste, departure, despair and alienation are common themes in his work. His characters sometimes seem to come out of fairytales. Still, some see hope within his work — the endurance of human endeavor, in spite of its fragility. His later work focuses on the landscape removed of human subjects. He is considered by some a master of street photography.

Students do a daily "Bell Work" activity analyzing a significant or historical photo. They must make written comments about the composition, contrast, focus, balance, framing and statements each photo is making. This is our daily warm up exercise.

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